I have a bunch of the mini roses as they were used as table centre pieces at the hockey dances here and my daughter would give me one every spring. They were really great in our hot dry summer last year. I do find that the red ones are the hardiest and have lost a couple of the yellow ones. I did buy 2 new yellow and 2 dark red last year and they seem to have survived the winter. If they get black spot, I dig them up and put them in pots and the new soil seems to help.

My new plant today (while looking for something else) is a dark blue, blue clips campanula from Home Depot.

I noticed in my travels that Walmart is charging more for pansies than the garden center; $1.89 per cell pack as opposed to $1.39 at the co-op.

Hi..I'm zone 5 and I have a pink mini that flowers all summer long. Have had it for 3 years now with no problem. I just cover it with hay and a styrofoam cone for the winter, and in the spring it pops right up with the other roses. It is in front of my rose garden, just to it's left is it's Momma.
Momma is the same color and about 4 feet tall.LOL.
I got the mini in a nice pot 3 years ago for Christmas and it has survived nicely. So I say go for it!
So far I have bought
Dahlia (Pink, purple from costco)
Hostas
Begonias
Canna (Pink)
Way too many seeds: Holly hocks, Zinnia, Asters, pampas grass (White & Pink),Basil, oregano,Pansys, sweet peas, poppies (Not sown yet as the first batch died promptly, Digitalis,and many more that will be direct sown outside.

Yes the minis survive very well here. I lied though...I remember losing one once, but it wasn't looking great when I planted it (bought it on clearance, but had to try anyway). I do have them planted in bark now which offers up some added protection. However, at my last house the only protection they might have received is from the foliage of neighboring plants.

I think I have 8 total...well 10 now. Most have been bought at Home Depot, Superstore, Wal-mart, etc. so nothing special about them. In fact, most don't even come with tags on them.

I have two areas where I plant them, both south facing. One is a very small bed up against the deck (9'x 3') and I have them planted right at the very front with creeping thyme growing around them. The second area is a rose bed. I have five of them lining the walkway that separates this bed from a perennial bed. I've placed them just outside the stepping stones so they can be well seen...but not close enough to get a thorn in the ankle. lol. Also, I have mine planted in groups of 3 or 5 to make a bigger impact.

I have the real small (6-8") ones, but I am eyeballing some that get a little bigger (10-18") too. Thinking the slightly bigger ones for the rose bed and move some of the smaller ones against the deck.

Edited to add: yep...flowers all summer.

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Last edited by Scrapinthehat on Apr 17, 2008 1:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Donna...I won't be planting for several weeks either. Doesn't stop me from buying though. Just make room where I can for now. I'll admit that most of the minis I saw were not in very good shape so I was fortunate to find the ones I did. Those blooms are, in fact, bigger than most I've seen.

My girlfriend called me at lunch stating that I needed to get out to our local favorite greenhouse quick as they were giving away $200 fountains per customer who purchased a min. of $25 worth of product. I could hardly believe my ears. So I rushed out there and picked up 4 more mini roses (3 fushia and 1 more peachy/pink - to go with the other two superstore ones). Got a real cute flatback fountain to put on my front veranda beside my front door. Made my day!